DT 14-15 / 2009

Norwegian aid reaches 1.09 per cent of GNI next year, and increases in real terms in spite of the financial crisis. But in the budget for 2010, all fresh funds go to domestic refugees and carbon emission reduction efforts abroad.

Three years ago, the Swedish Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson said she wanted to shake up the group of NGOs that have for years had exclusive access to billions of crowns in Sida NGO funding. Now it's happening.

Norfund, a Norwegian aid-financed risk capital fund, wants the current temporary ban on the use of tax havens replaced by “operational guidelines" that would allow it to make new investments in countries in Sub Saharan Africa where this is the only alternative.